Method of sending messages to devices not configured to receive them

ABSTRACT

A system having a server for receiving a message from a sending device executing a messaging application and for sending a message notification alert to a recipient, the server having a processor and memory, the memory having computer executable code, comprising receiving the message from the sending device executing the messaging application, the message containing recipient address information provided by the sending device, determining, based on recipient address information, that the recipient is not associated with a recipient device having the messaging application, and transmitting the message notification alert to the recipient via an alternate communications method, the message notification alert comprising a link to view the message.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/431,834 filed Jun. 5, 2019, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,779,134, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/927,525, filed Mar.21, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,362,457, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/692,044, filed Aug. 31, 2017, now U.S.Pat. No. 9,961,520, which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/273,637, filed Sep. 22, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,781,580,which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/664,790,filed Mar. 20, 2015, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,479,909, which claims thebenefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/955,998, filed Mar. 20,2014, the full disclosures of which are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND

U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 13/063,763 and 13/046,862, filed bythe applicant hereof, describe a system for ephemeral messaging, wherebyindividuals can have conversations that “self-destruct” or disappearafter a pre-determined period of time, both of which are herebyincorporated by reference. As discussed in more detail therein, thesemessages are different from traditional electronic mail or textmessaging systems, which are stored persistently.

Ephemeral messages such as those described in the above referencedpatent applications are traditionally delivered over the Internet,including delivery to devices such as smartphones that also haveconnectivity to traditional cellular telephone networks for servicessuch as telephone calls or Simple Message System (SMS) messages, inaddition to Internet connectivity. However, unless they are built intothe operating system of the device, these ephemeral message systemsrequire both the sender and the recipient to install applicationsoftware on their device in order to converse over the ephemeral messagesystem. Installing the application can itself become problematic from atechnical perspective at times when Internet connectivity issub-optimal. Also, convincing and/or reminding a potential conversationpartner to install an application before continuing a conversation canprove cumbersome or otherwise difficult, which results in the ephemeralmessage system not having the market penetration it might otherwisehave, and causing conversation participants to use built in tools suchas SMS instead, because of its universality and despite its inferiority.

Accordingly, it would be useful to permit a sender who has installed theapplication software for the messaging service to deliver a message viathat service to the device of a user who has not done so. This wouldallow the ephemeral messaging system to be introduced to the new userthrough a sender whom they know and trust, and via a message thatprovides context and which they wish to read. This would also allowusers who have lost or uninstalled the app to be notified of messagesand present renewed incentive to reinstall the application.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system having a server for receiving a message from a sending deviceexecuting a messaging application and for sending a message notificationalert to a recipient, the server having a processor and memory, thememory having computer executable code, comprising receiving the messagefrom the sending device executing the messaging application, the messagecontaining recipient address information provided by the sending device,determining, based on recipient address information, that the recipientis not associated with a recipient device having the messagingapplication, and transmitting the message notification alert to therecipient via an alternate communications method, the messagenotification alert comprising a link to view the message.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flow chart in accordance with an aspect of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart in accordance with an aspect of the presentdisclosure,

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram depicting a representative computer systemaccording to aspects of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Turning to FIG. 1, a process flow of a system whereby a user of anephemeral messaging system may send a message to a person who has notinstalled the application for that system and/or has not signed up foran account on that system is shown. As disclosed in application Ser.Nos. 13/063,763 and 13/046,862, the system is a “closed messagingsystem” where authenticated, registered users running the applicationassociated with the system can send and receive ephemeral messages. Thesystem can run on resources such as desktop or mobile communicationsdevices, such as smartphones, which run a software application designedto send and receive messages via the closed messaging system.

In step 1, the sender of the message chooses a recipient of the message.In step 2, the system determines whether the recipient is already in thedirectory for the messaging system and, if not, in one aspect, thatcontact information is added, e.g. from the sender's contacts database.In one aspect of the invention, recipient contact information may beadded by an administrator, either for one recipient or for manyrecipients at once. In one aspect of the invention, the contactinformation, whether added by the sender or by an administrator, can bemade available to all users of the system, however its visibility mayalso be restricted.

In one aspect, the web interface may include a challenge/responsesystem. In one aspect, e.g. in an administered context such as within anenterprise, an administrator may determine that authentication isrequired before a user may view a message. In a different context, suchas a consumer context, the sender of a message may require the user toanswer a challenge question before viewing the message, as shown in step3. The challenge may be entered by the Sender as part of the messagesending process, and the Recipient would be required to correctly answerthe challenge entered by the Sender before entering or viewing theconversation or seeing the message. Persons having skill in the art willunderstand that the challenge can be input before or after the message.In one aspect, the Sender can enter both the question and its answer. Instep 4, the sender inputs the message. The sender may also input, or thesystem may impose, ephemeral limits on the message.

In step 5 the system determines if the recipient has a mobile resourceor active online resource. In one aspect, the system checks to see ifthere is a mobile device on the ephemeral messaging system associatedwith the recipient user, e.g. a device with the system's softwareapplication installed, or an actively running desktop or web resourceconnected to the ephemeral messaging system. If so, the message is sentvia the ephemeral messaging system to the mobile or active onlineresource in step 6.

Turning now to FIG. 2, if a mobile resource associated with therecipient user is not available, then in step 7 the system chooses analternative notification via SMS, Email, or some other mode of transportthat is known to be available based on the contact information availablefor that user in the system (e.g., internal messaging on an electronicmedical records application, messaging via a social media platform, ormessaging via an instant messaging platform). In step 8, a templatemessage is sent via the preferred method of transport as chosen in step7. The template message is generated from a template and contains a linkto a secure website where the Message Recipient can view and respond tothe message, and continue interacting with the service, e.g. via a webinterface. In one aspect, the template message may include the entiresent message. In another aspect, the template message may include fieldsof information about the message, but not the message itself, or mayinclude some portion of the message but not the entire message. Fieldsmay include the identity of the sender, the date and time of themessage, information about the ephemeral limitations on the messagewhich can include general or specific information, e.g., the length oftime the message will be viewable to the recipient, and/or a subject ofthe message, which can be input by the sender.

In step 9, the Message Recipient receives the message via the selectedalternative transport and selects the secure link which redirects themto a secure browser for viewing the message on their internet enableddevice. In step 10, the authentication requirements for the messageand/or the recipient user are tested. In one aspect, the web interfacemay include an ability to create an account or establish a password fordelivery of future ephemeral messages via the ephemeral messagingservice. This can occur with varying levels and types of authentication.In one aspect, no authentication may be necessary based on the contentof the link via which the user entered the system. In one aspect, theuser may be asked to create a password. In one aspect, the user may beasked to enter an existing password. In one aspect, the user may beasked to log in with credentials from another service. In one aspect,the user may be asked to answer a system-generated question based onprevious information about the user, known to the system. In one aspectthe user may be asked to answer a question written by the sender of themessage. Persons having skill in the art will realize that one or moreof these may be used in conjunction with one another. In one aspect, thesystem can deliver a traditional message (e.g., an e-mail or SMSmessage, or a message by the previously selected preferred alternatemethod of transport) to the user after the user creates the account, toconfirm that the account has been created. If the authenticationrequirement fails, an error message is displayed in step 11.

In one aspect, the system and/or the sender may impose ephemerallimitations on the number of times a user can respond via the webinterface without installing the application on a device and associatingthe instance of the application on the device with the user account. Forexample, the web interface may allow for read-only access to messages,may allow each account to respond only once, twice, or some otherlimited number of times before disabling responses. The web interfacemay also control the amount of time, or the number of times, aparticular message may be viewed, e.g. by the web interface. In step 12,these ephemeral limits are tested, and, if the message is stillpermitted to be displayed, it is displayed in step 13 and the MessageSender is notified that the message is read. If not, a marketing messageto download the application to continue using the ephemeral messagingservice is displayed in step 14. In step 15, in one aspect, the messagerecipient can enter a response to the message in a form on their webenabled device. In step 14, the Message recipient is then displayed themarketing message of step 14.

In one aspect, the invention allows for an ongoing conversation throughthe secure web browser, group messaging, and the sending/receiving ofrich media. Ongoing conversation view allows the user to continueparticipating in the conversation via the web interface in real time,instead of requiring re-authentication every time a new message isreceived within the conversation. In one aspect, users may receive asystem notification that another user in the conversation is activelyreading the conversation and/or inputting a response. In one aspect, thesystem can continue delivering notifications via the preferred alternatemethod of transport for future messages in the conversation. Thesenotifications may appear to users on their registered device, even whenthe user is not viewing the conversation or even active in the ephemeralmessaging app. Furthermore, persons having ordinary skill in the artwill understand that logic for determining the preferred method oftransport can be modified and expanded to optimize for best path ofreaching a recipient, and can include defined escalation procedures touse transport methods in a particular order.

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative computer system 400 suitable forimplementing methods and systems according to an aspect of the presentdisclosure. The computer system may comprise, for example, a computerrunning any of a number of operating systems. The above-describedmethods of the present disclosure may be implemented on the computersystem 400 as stored program control instructions.

Computer system 400 includes processor 410, memory 420, storage device430, and input/output structure 440. One or more input/output devicesmay include a display 445. One or more busses 450 typically interconnectthe components, 410, 420, 430, and 440. Processor 410 may be a single ormulti core.

Processor 410 executes instructions in which aspects of the presentdisclosure may comprise steps described in one or more of the Figures.Such instructions may be stored in memory 420 or storage device 430.Data and/or information may be received and output using one or moreinput/output devices.

Memory 420 may store data and may be a computer-readable medium, such asvolatile or non-volatile memory, or any non-transitory storage medium.Storage device 430 may provide storage for system 400 including forexample, the previously described methods. In various aspects, storagedevice 430 may be a flash memory device, a disk drive, an optical diskdevice, or a tape device employing magnetic, optical, or other recordingtechnologies.

Input/output structures 440 may provide input/output operations forsystem 400. Input/output devices utilizing these structures may include,for example, keyboards, displays 445, pointing devices, andmicrophones—among others. As shown and may be readily appreciated bythose skilled in the art, computer system 400 for use with the presentdisclosure may be implemented in a desktop computer package 460, alaptop computer 470, a hand-held computer, for example a tabletcomputer, personal digital assistant, mobile device, or smartphone 480,or one or more server computers that may advantageously comprise a“cloud” computer 490.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system capable of receiving a message from asending device executing a messaging application and capable of sendinga message notification alert to a recipient, comprising: a messageserver comprising a processor and memory that stores computer executablecode instructing the processor to perform steps comprising: a. receivingthe message from the sending device executing the messaging application,the message containing recipient address information provided by thesending device; b. determining, based on recipient address information,whether the recipient is associated with a recipient device having themessaging application; c. if the recipient is associated with arecipient device having the messaging application, then transmitting themessage to be received via the messaging application; and d. if therecipient is not associated with a recipient device having the messagingapplication, transmitting the message notification alert to therecipient via an alternate communications method other than via themessaging application, wherein the message notification alert isgenerated using a template and does not include the message, and themessage notification alert comprises a link to view the message, whereinthe link is to a web based interface supplied by the message serverallowing the sending device and recipient to participate in a real-timeconversation and wherein the conversation comprises a plurality ofmessages from the sending device or from the recipient in a single view.2. The system of claim 1, wherein the web based interface ends access tothe message by the recipient after a specified number of views of themessage via the web interface.
 3. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising receiving an authentication requirement, and restrictingaccess by the recipient to the message until the authenticationrequirement is met by the recipient.
 4. The system of claim 1, whereinthe web based interface further comprises an invitation to the recipientto download the messaging application.
 5. The system of claim 1, whereinthe message notification alert further comprises a field of informationrelating to the message.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the fieldcomprises information relating to ephemeral limitations on reading themessage.
 7. The system of claim 5, wherein the field comprises one ormore of a sender indicator and a recipient indicator.
 8. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the sending device sends a second message in theconversation and wherein a second message notification alert, relatingto the second message, is sent via the alternate communications method.9. The system of claim 1, wherein the alternate communications method isan SMS messaging method.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein thealternate communications method is an email messaging method.